Coca is a small town by the Napo river, in the Ecuadorian Amazonia, nine hours by bus from Quito. We spent two days there last week working with Ome Gompote Kiwigimoni Waorani. Pentibo Baihua (above, right) founded this organization to defend his people's territory from oil extractors, loggers, and other predators.
We had been introduced to Mr. Baihua by Judith Kimmerlin, a New York-based environmental rights attorney who has worked with the Waorani for over ten years.
When we got to Quito she was there accompanying a delegation. They were meeting government officials and doing press, inserting the voice of Waorani communities into the national debate over the managment of the Yasunà reserve, which is their home.
They are facing a hard legal battle.
Historically, outsider media has painted the Waorani as a violent and ignorant people.
Pejoratively referred to as Aucas ("enemy" in Kichua), they became the object of christian missionary zeal in the 1950's, with tragic results for four young protestant zealots.
The episode, which LIFE magazine covered in two issues, "propelled the evangelical missionary movement" in the US, according to their website.
For the Waorani, the encounter meant something different. It meant the start of the erosion of their culture and autonomy.
Naomi met Pentibo at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in April 2009. He inmediately wanted to start working with us.
It took us nine months to get to Coca. Mr. Baihua and his son Gawe live in Bameno, which is two days away into the jungle.
It should take us a few more months to get there, and do a longer workshop.
In the meantime, they have some new tools in their hands, lots of ideas, and a first exercise to shoot.
We had been introduced to Mr. Baihua by Judith Kimmerlin, a New York-based environmental rights attorney who has worked with the Waorani for over ten years.
When we got to Quito she was there accompanying a delegation. They were meeting government officials and doing press, inserting the voice of Waorani communities into the national debate over the managment of the Yasunà reserve, which is their home.
They are facing a hard legal battle.
Historically, outsider media has painted the Waorani as a violent and ignorant people.
Pejoratively referred to as Aucas ("enemy" in Kichua), they became the object of christian missionary zeal in the 1950's, with tragic results for four young protestant zealots.
The episode, which LIFE magazine covered in two issues, "propelled the evangelical missionary movement" in the US, according to their website.
For the Waorani, the encounter meant something different. It meant the start of the erosion of their culture and autonomy.
Naomi met Pentibo at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in April 2009. He inmediately wanted to start working with us.
It took us nine months to get to Coca. Mr. Baihua and his son Gawe live in Bameno, which is two days away into the jungle.
It should take us a few more months to get there, and do a longer workshop.
In the meantime, they have some new tools in their hands, lots of ideas, and a first exercise to shoot.
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